Kuwait has declared force majeure on shipments of crude oil and refined petroleum products as the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz disrupted vessel access to the Gulf and made it impossible to meet some delivery obligations, Bloomberg News reported on Monday.
State-run Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) notified customers on Friday that it was invoking the contractual clause that allows suppliers to miss deliveries under exceptional circumstances, according to a document cited by Bloomberg.
The move does not necessarily mean exports will stop completely, according to a person familiar with the matter, who said some supplies may continue despite the declaration.
The disruption comes as the war involving Iran has pushed traffic through the Strait of Hormuz close to a standstill, creating a bottleneck for Gulf energy exporters and adding further strain to global oil markets.
The near-shutdown of the key maritime route has also led storage facilities in the region to fill up rapidly, while Gulf countries that depend heavily on oil and fuel exports have faced mounting pressure on output and revenues.
Kuwait suffers infrastructure strikes
Countries across the region have already been forced to reduce production of crude oil, gas, and refined products because of the Hormuz disruption and Iranian strikes.
Earlier this month, the US government estimated that over 9 million barrels per day of oil production would be shut down in April.
Kuwait has also suffered repeated strikes on oil infrastructure, with output falling to levels last seen in the early 1990s following Iraq’s invasion of the country, according to the report.
The person familiar with the matter said a full recovery in production would take time even after hostilities ease, suggesting export disruptions could continue beyond any immediate improvement in regional security.
